OLYMPE DE GOUGES

and the women of the French Revolution

Often considered the first modern feminist, Olympe fought for

women’s rights and for the abolition of slavery during the
French Revolution. She wrote the “Declaration of the Rights of
the Woman and of the Female Citizen” demanding equal rights
between genders. Her works spanned a wide variety of issues
including divorce and marriage, children's rights,
unemployment and social security. Her contributions to the
feminist movement are fundamental, influencing many women
of her time to raise their voices about sexism and patriarchy.
Her thoughts shaped contemporary ideas and battles for civil
rights.

LIFE AND WORKS

Olympe de Gouges was born on the 7th of May 1748 in Montauban under the name Marie
Gouze. She was born into a wealthy family. Her mum was Anne Olympe; her dad’s identity
is ambiguous, as she was widely believed to be an illegitimate child. Marie married in 1765
to Louis Yves Aubry against her will. This experience strongly marked her thoughts on
marriage, that she will decry in her novels, and that she called “the tomb of trust and love”.
In 1766 she gave birth to her son Pierre. That same year, Louis died. She never married
again, and changed her name under Olympe de Gouges.

In 1768 she moved to Paris, and began attending the artistic and philosophical salons of
Paris, where she met many writers and influential figures. She began her career as a writer
in Paris, publishing a novel in 1784. De Gouges used to sign her letters with citoyenne, the
feminine of “citoyen” (citizen), foreshadowing Revolutionary ideas before they spread in
society. In 1788 she published Réflexions sur les hommes nègres, which demanded
compassion for the plight of slaves in the French colonies, in her opinion linked to the
autocratic monarchy in France. She wrote the play L'Esclavage des Noirs in 1785, but by
positioning herself against slavery, she turned into a target of threats. The slave trade lobby
organised a press campaign against her play and sabotaged the performances.

De Gouges was also attacked by influential men of the time that believed in a patriarchal
society where women do not have access to cultural or political environments. Abraham
Joseph Benàrd defined Olympe as those women “who through their pretensions lose the
charming qualities of their sex” as if the only role or ambition of a woman should be beauty
and obedience. Olympe responded with: "I'm determined to be a success, and I'll do it in
spite of my enemies." As a passionate advocate of human rights and an anti-monarchist, de
Gouges greeted the Revolution with hope and joy, but soon became disenchanted when
equal rights (egalitè) were not extended to women.

Olympe became part of the Society of the Friends of Truth, one of the only associations who
wanted to establish political and legal rights for women. In 1791, in response to the
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the citizen, she wrote the Déclaration des droits de
la Femme et de la Citoyenne. Olympe’s declaration maintains similar affirmations to the
original one, simply adding or replacing the word “femme” or “citoyenne”, which did not
appear even once in the 1791 version, proving that she supported and believed in the ideas
of the Revolution and her goal was just to extend those rights to women. In that text she
expressed her most famous statement:

“A woman has the right to mount the scaffold. She must possess equally the right to mount
the speaker's platform.”

In 1791, in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, African slaves revolted following the
ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights. Olympe did not approve of violent
revolution, however she was accused of having incited the insurrection with her play.
Olympe de Gouges she started to become wary of Robespierre's faction and in open letters
criticized their violence. As the Revolution progressed, she became more and more forceful
in her writings, and her arrest in 1793 was caused by her poster Les Trois urnes, ou le
Salut de la Patrie, par un voyageur aérien ("The Three Urns, or the Salvation of the
Fatherland, by an Aerial Traveller").

In this publication, Olympe decreed that French citizens needed to establish a decent
government based on strong laws, and that the long-lasting divisions between parties and
clubs led to “incalculable harm”. She also called for an end to the bloodshed of the
Revolution that had slaughtered “the most brilliant of our young”. That piece portrayed,
symbolically, a choice among three potential forms of government: a unitary republic, a
federalist government, or a constitutional monarchy. The problem was that the law of the
revolution established by Roberspierre and his radical supporters made it a capital offense
for anyone to encourage reestablishing the monarchy.

Olympe de Gouges was arrested in

July and executed on November 3rd
1793. She was sent to the guillotine
like many innocent women before
and after her. Just before the blade
fell onto her neck, she exclaimed
“Children of the homeland, you will
avenge my death”, but the crowd
responded with a unanimous “Long
live the Republic!”
WOMEN’S BATTLES

“Women, wake up; the tocsin of reason sounds throughout the universe; recognize your
rights!”
Olympe De Gouges

Olympe de Gouges fought for gender equality, liberty of speech, abolition of slavery and
justice in a time where violence, oppression, sexism and racism were praised by political
powers. We must recognize her courage to address these problems in such a difficult and
complicated context. She used what many women did not have access to, education and a
position of relevancy, to address the violation of human rights spread by those who, at the
beginning, fought for liberty and equality. She quickly understood the deranged effects of
the Revolution, but it was too late to step to the side. Just as she predicted, the Jacobin’s
movement transformed into a tyranny that could be considered more violent than the
pre-revolutionary monarchy. She knew that liberty could not be attained through violence,
but only through diplomacy. Her declaration of women’s rights provoked a chain effect of
women becoming aware of their rights and that it was worth fighting for them. This
message culminated in the publication of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” by Mary
Wollstonecraft in 1797, considered the “manifesto” of liberal feminism.

But she was not the only woman who took part in the Revolution and was punished by men
for her battles. Another memorable figure of the French Revolution is Charlotte Corday,
who killed the radical Jean-Paul Marat, journalist and president of the Jacobin Club whose
ideals of revenge and violence caused thousands of deaths in the name of “libertè”.
Charlotte was sent to the guillotine in 1793, and even though her actions backfired, she
changed the course of the Revolution and stayed loyal to her ideals of peace and liberty,
stating: “I’ve killed a man to save a thousand”. Another example is Claire Lacomb, one of
the first republican feminist activists during the Revolution and the leader of the Society of
Revolutionary Republican Women, an only-women group that advocated for gender
equality. Lastly, an important role was played by Theroigne de Mericourt. Frustrated by the
minimal opportunities available to female patriots, she supported the formation of women's
patriotic clubs and used to disguised herself as a man to have access to the National
Assembly. She assaulted the Bastille in 1789 and led the Women’s March on Versailles.
Probably afraid of her power and wanting to stop her, both royalists and revolutionaries
started to portray her as a “shameless libertine" who was sexually involved with every man
of the National Assembly.
It's important to remember these women because the French Revolution was really a turning
point in feminism, even though it is always depicted as a “men's fight”. Modern society
should pay attention to these women, especially in this modern delicate political
environment, because they were pioneers of modern feminism and we could not be here
fighting against the patriarchy if it was not for them. Today still, no matter what party, those
in power do not seem to care about women’s rights, and we can see injustices upon women
increasing every day. I chose to talk about Olympe de Gouges because, after encountering
her Declaration a few months ago, I started to research how feminism evolved in history and
I have learned everything women had to go through to simply be considered at the same
level of men. I look up to Olympe and all the women that took part in the French Revolution
because they were not afraid of denouncing a man-ruled world. Since I constantly feel
threatened and worried by the economical, political, social and cultural context we live in,
where women are killed everyday for being women, looking backwards into the life of these
women gives me hope and security. ​

This work though is not about hoping that these great women could live today so that they
could change things. I believe every single one of them has done enough; now the goal is
working hard promoting their messages to make every woman today into a conscious and
active fighter for human rights. Now it is about changing our morals and traditions to create
a safe environment for every woman. We need to change our narratives, our stories and our
culture based on sexualising, degrading and underestimating women. ​
​
In conclusion, Olympe De Gouges and many other women refused to stay quiet in front of
an unjust society, and after centuries, I firmly believe we can still obtain changes and
revenate everything we deserve as human beings.